and... we're back!

We're back and we're ready to par-tay!

We were all feeling better just in time for the 1st Annual Jump and Jive at Madelyns school tonight.

What a blast!!! There were burgers and dogs, lots of music and wild kids dancing around like little crazy people. Maddie absolutely loved it. She sat right there in the middle of the dance floor just watching all the kids whiz by her. She even put her arms out to each side and twisted back and forth with the music (I think Daddy might have taught her that dance move).

I put together a quick video for your viewing pleasure. Ms. Barbara at the school did such a great job with the entire thing. We even had Pastor Julie out there for a few dances!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

a year ago today...

In the absence of a daily phto of the babe (since she's been sick since Monday and has either had goop coming out of her eye or her nose... or both... and I havent wanted to take pictures of that) I thought I would go back in my "My Pictures" folder on my computer and see just what we were up to a year ago today.

I have no pictures from July 30th, however I do have a group of pictures from a Stone Mountain trip we took July 29th of 2007. Close enough.

This is Jim watching Tucker fetch a stick. Isnt it peaceful? We were peaceful. Peaceful, calm, did whatever we wanted when we wanted (we happened to head out to Stone Mountain after work this day on a whim) and were patiently waiting for a baby to come into our lives and turn everything upside down!

And that she did. Now we have wonderful Madelyn in our lives. And although we might not be able to head out to Stone Mountain after work to take advantage of the long days of summer because Maddie is in bed by 7:30pm, everything we do is more meaningful because she's with us. Just seeing her watch Tucker and get so excited when she sees him doing something as simple as fetching the stick makes every sacrifice we make worth it. Its so much more fun to do the simple things in life with her than when it was just the two of us.

So looking back at old pictures and remembering how we were and the anticipation we felt made me feel very thankful and blessed that we have a happy, healthy baby Maddie in our lives. She's brought us nothing but joy since August 28th, 2007. We love you baby girl!

ear infections and pink eye... round 2

No pictures today because Madelyn said she wasn't feeling her best but she wanted to tell you all she's doing okay and making it thru round 2 of her double ear infections and pink eye (conjunctivitis). We thought the antibiotics had successfully gotten rid of the funk a few weeks ago but ...its baaack. Maddie was a trooper at the doctor and hopefully with the new meds, she'll be feeling as good as new in a few days. Hows that for an 11 month birthday celebration... a trip to the doctors office!

So, mommy and daddy are both "working from home" to take care of her today (she can't technically go back to daycare til tomorrow). I think between the two of us, we might be able to put it an honest days work combined (I hope our bosses aren't reading this). Daddy is actually feeling under the weather now too so he's catching a cat nap in Maddie's room with her.

So I should get back to work and catch up on a few things around the disaster area we call a house while the babe is sleeping but I just wanted to check in and say we're doing okay and will be snapping those pictures of Maddie again shortly!

childrens museum with the lil peaches

Maddie and I had a fabulous Friday together. In the morning we met our "Lil Peaches Playgroup" at the Atlanta Childrens Museum and had such a great time. I had never been before... as I have never had a kid to take to it before... and was blown away how cool and fun it was!! I found it a little pricey to get in for an adult ($11) but I think it was worth it.

The museum was broken up into areas for different ages and there was even a toddler "crawl" area in the back with soft blocks to crawl on and over, instruments that were safe to play (bang on), mirrors, and even a cool baby water bed!! I think Maddie's very favorite part was the piano.

Tickling the ivories

You shake my nerves and you rattle my brain...

Our little Norah Jones in the making

Next stop... ooooh, wait... who's that pretty baby?

Fishing for duckies??

Checking out the fishing pond with Ellie

Strummin with Ellie

Maddie and Baby Tyler on his Ladybug

Checkin' out who's under the sea


Our "attempt" at a group picture. This was the best one out of about 10

You can't tell from the picture above, but all the kids had a great time. After an hour or so of playtime we ate lunch and then headed home. Hope we get to go again soon! I know Maddie will enjoy it more and more as she gets older.

a week in food

Maddie is almost 11 months old (just two more days!) and is eating almost anything and everything us "grown ups" eat. We've been trying to give her as many normal things that we eat as we can so that she'll soon be eating dinner along side of us every night. She's eating chicken, fish, all types of veggies, all types of fruits and LOVES wheat bread. She prefers feeding herself versus being spoon fed so for now we're finding as many non-mushy foods as possible that she can eat.

Tonights menu... fish and green beans... yummy!

Let me polish that off with some wheat bread.

Eating corn on the cob like a pro!

And yes, she's even mastered corn on the cob. We had already fed her, given her a bath and put her PJs on when we started eating. She was VERY interested in Jims dinner so he decided to let her try some corn. She went right at it!!! Only one month til she gets to dive into some birthday cake! Woo hoo! I think she'll be ready.

first "class" picture

Its a little late... but still blogworthy nonetheless.

Here's little Miss Maddie's class picture. This is the "Beautiful Butterflies" class. She's on the far left in the exersaucer (how they got all the babies looking at the camera at one time is beyond me). Those are all her buddies at school, minus a few who weren't in that day. Not sure why her teacher Ms Deena isnt smiling... she never has that serious look on her face! Must have not been ready.

little sick baby and we're movin on up

Nothings sadder than a sick baby, don't you think? While I was in Orlando this week for work, Maddie came home with pink eye. Jim being the super dad that he is- took the day off of work (sort of) and brought her into the doctor. The doc immediately diagnosed the goop coming out of her eye as pink eye and also checked her ears for more goop. Yup... she had an ear infection too. Poor baby. She's been pretty fussy and not wanting to take naps or sleep at night. Otherwise she's been a trooper. Here's a pic Jim took to show me just how sad she looked on Tuesday.

Awww...

As you can see by Thursday, she was feeling much better.

And this is the view we have a lot these days. See ya! Im scootin'.

We also got Maddie's new carseat delivered on Thursday. She's graduated to the big girl car seat that will take her all the way to 65lbs! I dont know how old she'll be when she's 65lbs but considering I wore a size 6X til I was in 6th grade... she might be riding in this thing to her junior high dance. Technically she still fits into her infant car seat per height and weight requirements but Im getting pretty sick of lugging it in and out of daycare since we only have one we have to share between two cars. So I took it out of the box so see what it looked like and decided to plop Maddie in it to see how she fit. She immediately starting kicking her legs around - I think she likes it.

Cute.

Mommy just might get a girls night out tonight if Maddie is feeling up for it. M is pretty excited that Mr. Lanny is coming over tonight to hang out with her while Mommy goes out with Ms Steff. Maddie has a not-so-secret crush on Lanny (Steff needs to watch out) and always has fun with him.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

a night in the 80s

At some point in this whirlwind summer we've been having, Jim and I scored free tickets to see Joan Jett and REO Speedwagon at an awesome venue here in Atlanta. I was so excited. My best friend in high school and I used to ride around town in her dads little black pick-up truck blaring the REO Speedwagon Greatest Hits tape and singing along to every word. So - these songs bring back lots of great memories for me.

Anywhoo - the concert was awesome. Most of the people there were stuck in the 80s so there was a lot of people-watching to do. Joan Jett surprised me. She had a ton of fans and looked and sounded pretty good. She did cover a lot of Pat Benetar though - which I found a little lame. Its bad enough she looks and sounds like her- she doesnt have to steal her music too!

Enjoy the pics.

more cute beach pics

Im still pulling pictures off our cameras and couldn't resist posting these. Too cute not to share.

teething necklaces for moms!

Very cute idea.

I dont know about you other mommies out there but Maddie is still putting anything and everything she can in her mouth and I havent worn a necklace since August 2007... so this is great!

Here's the description from the website:

Teething Bling® was inspired by babies who like to tug on our jewelry.Made from the same material as many teething toys, Teething Bling® looks great on Moms, Grandmas, Aunts and Caregivers but is safe for curious babies to handle and chew.

The website is http://www.smartmomjewelry.com/ if you want to find out more.